Getting Hired: Utilizing Social Media and Your Portfolio to Your Advantage

How can you distinguish yourself from other photographers? That is the essential question every photographer launching a marketing strategy should pose themselves. With regards to developing a dedicated plan, there are multiple avenues available: email newsletters, printed promos sent via snail mail, social media posts, networking at in-person or virtual events or cold calling editors can all play their part.

What’s your strategy for finding clients and photo editors? How can you edge out competition in this competitive industry? Are there any skills or perspectives that set you apart that you could offer as unique assets to this field? For beginners just starting out, taking note of which photographers stand out is also helpful in learning why.

First step to successful selling yourself is getting comfortable with selling yourself. While selling yourself may appear straightforward at first, crafting an approach to best display your skills and personality requires finesse. Below we share insights from two acclaimed photographers Lola Akinmade Akerstrom and Aundre Larrow who break down how they approach social media as well as offering advice on maximizing any photos you already made.

Not all social media is created equal
When discussing photography and social media, most people immediately think of Instagram. Ten or five years ago, Instagram reigned supreme when it came to marketing your photography using popular hashtags, geotags and direct comments; you could amass quite an impressive following using this platform alone.

But these days Instagram is increasingly turning into a shopping app; when it comes to promoting posts to followers (and prospective followers) of yours (or anyone), Instagram’s algorithms prioritise money over quality content; you must pay to play. That being said, Instagram still remains an effective platform to showcase work on, though we wouldn’t necessarily advise photographers looking for their next big gig to use it as their go-to marketing app.

Enter Twitter and LinkedIn.

As editorial photographers, getting on editors’ radars should be of top priority. Follow editors you admire and interact organically with them; don’t attempt any forced flattery; genuine praise goes far!

Lola Akinmade Akerstrom, marketing expert and travel photographer extraordinaire, gave us some insight into her approach to marketing. Being so prolific herself, we wanted to know which platforms she focused on for best results in landing such high-profile jobs as travel photography and marketing photography.

Lola suggests taking three steps when using Twitter for reaching out: follow editors whom you wish to work with, authentically engage with their content and then follow-up by email (3-7 days after engaging).

Lola recommends Twitter as a great way to break in, as editors already have relationships with photographers who already work there. Twitter allows her to follow those she likes without coming off like stalkerish! Listen carefully and observe their discussions; keep an ear out for projects they’re working on or conversations that interest you; if something piques your interest, respond by engaging with that content directly. After following them and seeing whether your portfolio matches what they’re doing, wait three days and email the editor directly. They get lots of emails, but because you’ve interacted with them already there will be an instant subconscious recognition which increases their chance of opening up your email,” according to her advice.

Twitter can also serve as an ideal place for photographers to share how-to content, personal projects, behind-the-scenes stories or videos, compliment fellow photographers on their latest projects and provide more context while showing more personality or gratitude – which all help when it comes to landing their next gig! Editors follow numerous photographers; therefore the more frequently you interact with fellow photographers’ work the greater your chance is of creating the subconscious associations Lola refers to.